Yongning Prison.

There are still more than 2,000 acres of pasture left near Jiancheng, and more than 2,000 horse breeds bought from North Korea are now all raised here. As for the horses raised in the Yuanma Temple before, they were all sold by Wang Yuan, and they were all crooked melons and cracked dates.

One acre of pasture to raise a horse is obviously far from enough, because the pasture cannot withstand consumption.

Therefore, it is necessary to feed a large amount of grains and collect hay to accompany it. Every three days, the horse keeper has to lead people to drive the horses to the nearby mountains and forests to graze.

After Wang Yuan saw these Korean horse breeds, he couldn't help frowning, and asked people to take a ruler to measure, and the average shoulder height was less than four feet (less than 120 centimeters). He couldn't help but ask Ling Xiang: "Although these horses are not weak, how can they be horse breeders?" It's too short, isn't it? ”

Ling Xiang said with a smile: "If the imperial court comes forward and the horses bought in North Korea are shorter, we will buy them at a high price." ”

"Why?" Wang Yuan asked.

Ling Xiang obviously did a lot of homework after he became the Taifu Siqing and the Yuanma Siqing. He explained: "In the early years of the dynasty, Goryeo war horses could reach a height of five feet (more than 150 centimeters at the shoulder), and more than one-fifth of the cavalry in the Goryeo army could use tens of thousands of cavalry to fight at any time. Not only did Goryeo expand to the Yalu River, but its territory even crossed the Tumen River (Tumen River) for a time, and it had the potential to sweep through Liaodong. With the wisdom and martial arts of Taizu and Taizong, how can they tolerate others sleeping soundly on the side of the couch? ”

Wang Yuan immediately understood: "So, the Korean war horse was shortened by Taizu and Taizong?" ”

Ling Xiang said with a smile: "As long as there is a slight war in the Ming Dynasty, he will order Goryeo and North Korea to sell horses, and only give one-third of the market price." In the first decades of the founding of the country, in fact, the Ming Dynasty was not short of war horses, and had been buying horses from Goryeo and North Korea, purely to crush their cavalry. Of course, the Ming Dynasty also made a compromise and was forced to recognize that the south of the Yalu River and the Tumen River was the territory of North Korea. Those lands were originally the homeland of the Yuan Dynasty, and they should be inherited by my Ming Dynasty, and Taizu and Taizong hated it deeply! ”

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it frantically suppressed Goryeo and North Korea. Not only looking for any opportunity to weaken the opposing cavalry, but also carrying out a full-scale strategic material (technology) embargo. For example, horns are needed to make compound bows, and North Korea itself does not produce buffaloes, so the Ming Dynasty is not allowed to sell buffaloes and horns to North Korea. Another example is that North Korea asked to learn smelting technology, but the Ming Dynasty only taught North Korea the method of copper smelting, but North Korea lacked copper mines, so it was impossible to cast guns and artillery by itself.

Goryeo and Korea, which were able to mobilize tens of thousands of cavalry to fight, were crippled by the Ming Dynasty.

Ling Xiang said: "After Taizong's death, North Korea has been pushing back every time it is Soma and hindering it. It really couldn't be pushed off, so he only brought in bad horses, arguing that there were no good horses in the country. Actually, although there are no good horses, they are not so inferior. If the people go to buy, as long as they can afford it, they can still buy a war horse. North Korea refused to sell the official good horses to the Ming Dynasty, firstly, because they were afraid that the Ming would ask for too much, and secondly, because the price given by the Ming Dynasty was too low. ”

Wang Yuan said helplessly: "Even so, I still feel that I have lost." These horses can also be ridden in battle, but they are worse than horse breeds, but it is a pity that more than 80,000 taels of silver were used to buy horses. ”

"More than 80,000 taels is definitely expensive, but more than 2,000 horses at once, and I can only buy them from North Korea for the time being," Ling Xiang explained. The Jurchens refused to sell good horses in large quantities, and only sold horses sporadically in exchange for supplies, so North Korea was relatively obedient. With more than 2,000 horse breeds, it should be regarded as the best horse in North Korea, and if we can't afford to pay a high price, North Korea probably doesn't want to sell it. ”

Wang Yuan thought about it and ordered the Shenxiao camp to send war horses.

The more than 400 cavalry under Yuan Da's command were all from the 3,000 battalions in the capital, and all of them rode the best of the best horses, with an average shoulder height of more than four feet and four inches (more than 136 centimeters) - although it was not very high, but the data was up to the mark.

According to the standard of modern Chinese cavalry, a war horse with a shoulder height of 1.33 meters is the best, and its small size is not easy to be hit by bullets, and it will not affect the running speed and spanning ability too much. But in ancient times, the high-grade war horses should actually be more than 140 centimeters, and being tall and powerful means that they have strong combat power.

The average shoulder height of war horses unearthed in the pre-Qin period was about 138 centimeters, and the Han Dynasty also prohibited the export of horses over 135 centimeters.

It's a pity that it can't be done in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the central elite cavalry, Zhu Houzhao collects war horses everywhere, and the average shoulder height is only 136 cm. The only exception is the leopard house, although the number of that army is small, but it is all high-headed horses, and it is difficult to replenish even one dead.

The horse breed bought from North Korea has a shoulder height of less than 120 centimeters. It is possible to go to war on horseback, but the combat effectiveness is worrying, and the short legs can't outrun the Mongol cavalry.

Under Wang Yuan's instructions, Yuan Dana's more than 400 good horses, even including Wang Yuan's war horses, were all sent to the Yuanma Temple Ranch to breed the horses bought from North Korea.

Immediately, Wang Yuan wrote to Zhu Ying again, asking the eunuch to buy horses from India. Whether it is an Indian horse or an Arabian horse, no matter how high the price is, it is acceptable, so buy 200 horses to breed first.

North Korea didn't produce good horses before, and it all relied on the Mongols to get Dawan horses. In just a few decades, the average shoulder height of the North Korean war horse quickly exceeded 130 centimeters, and the best even exceeded 150 centimeters.

In the last years of the Goryeo Dynasty and the early years of the Joseon Dynasty, an agrarian country had tens of thousands of cavalry, and all of them rode high-quality war horses. If it weren't for the close proximity to the Ming Dynasty, North Korea would definitely be able to kill all sides, and any piece of land that was thrown would be a small overlord-like existence.

If it weren't for the Ming Dynasty's continuous suppression for decades, North Korea would probably occupy most of Liaodong, how could there be anything to do with the later Jurchens?

Jianzhou Jurchen, who was violently beaten by North Korea countless times back then, often cried and begged Daming's father for help.

After chatting about raising horses, Wang Yuan asked again: "Jinzhou is still honest, right?" ”

Ling Xiang smiled: "Honest, not honest." ”

"That's enough." Wang Yuan was satisfied.

To be honest, it means that the military attache of Jinzhou did not dare to resist the policy of the imperial court. is not honest, it means that the military attache of Jinzhou, all kinds of yang and yin obstruct the establishment of civil affairs officials in the imperial court.

In the southern Liaonan Sanwei to recover the civil power, Gaizhou Wei was under the rule of Yuan Da, naturally there was nothing to say. Fuzhou Wei was just suppressed by Wang Yuan, and those officers only wanted to survive, and they couldn't play any tricks. Only Jinzhouwei has the largest population and the richest economy, and it is very difficult to take stock of the tuntian and the population.

Wang Yuan still stayed in southern Liaoning, just to suppress Jinzhouwei. Once he leaves, not to mention that the place dares to play mutiny, but it is also difficult to open up the situation in Jinzhouwei, and those military attaches have too many means to obstruct civilian officials.

After another half a month, Wang Yuan didn't have anything to do, riding horses in the pasture all day, and occasionally went hunting in the mountains. By the way, I will give questions to the students who came to Liaodong and let them practice Baguwen. Although Wang Yuan is not a great Confucian, he has also been an examiner in the imperial examination, and he knows what style the graders of the township examination and the examination like to do so.

At the end of May, Xia Chan came to Liaodong.

In addition to sending the good horses of the Wang family for breeding, he also brought dozens of letters.

Among them, the letter from Nanyang is very interesting, saying that they encountered a strange fleet. It was obviously the Tessie fleet, but it had come from the east, and the leader of the fleet had been killed by the natives, and most of the surviving crew members had contracted a strange disease.

The unfortunate dead leader was named "Fernando Maga".

Wang Yuan stared at the letter for a long time, and finally guessed that the Ming Royal Navy had met Magellan's fleet in the South Seas and witnessed the first circumnavigation of mankind that was about to be completed.

Well, it is estimated that the circumnavigation voyage will not be completed, because that fleet was forcibly impounded, and even the people on the ship were captured by the Daming Naval Division...... This was last winter.

Who let Magellan's fleet not go to the city to handle the sea introduction documents, without the trade license of the Ming Dynasty, it is not allowed to pass through the Strait of Malacca!